Chapter 39: Chapter 39

My whole body suddenly gets numb as I hear the voice, the only voice that has a huge impact on me, a voice that I can literally recognize even just for a mile. Right at that moment, my surroundings seem to stop, and only I can move, I don’t know if it is the alcohol or not, but now, I can clearly see Dee’s face.

My body is parallel to his, and his arms are now supporting me, then he brushes my nose again with his finger like he always does,

“You naughty woman, why are you putting yourself out here in danger? Don’t you see guys are already undressing you in their minds?” his stern voice says.

“And what do you mean by danger when she’s with me? Who the hell are y-”, K is unusually much more wasted than I am, so I immediately cover her mouth and whisper to her, “He’s Dmitri Sullivan, the guy that I’ve been telling you?”

Her eyes open wide and her jaw drops, she eyes Dmitri from head to foot and utters, “He’s the guy who’s been getting in your pants? He’s damn hot.”

I signal Nikolai to get down, and as expected he dashes out of the VVIP room. I try to control K’s loud mouth, “Be quiet, K.”

Dmitri keeps on watching us, smiling at me, I smirk at him out of embarrassment. He doesn’t need to know I’m bragging about him to other people. I am going to kill K later.

As I aid on K’s unruly behavior, I hear Nikolai excuses himself in between Dmitri and the men behind him. I lift my head for a minute and I saw Dmitri’s face darken at the sight of Nikolai. At first, I thought it was only out of jealousy, so I immediately defend the situation by introducing him, “Hey, Dee, this is K’s boyfriend, my best friend’s boyfriend, Nikolai,” then I gesture to Nikolai who’s busy collecting K from the dance floor. He once again carries her like a princess. But the moment Nikolai and Dmitri’s eyes cross, an invisible tension between them manifests.

If not only for Nikolai’s alertness, he would have dropped K on the floor, since I saw him let go of her a little. But he manages to get hold of her again. His arms tighten around K and I can see his eye level goes down. But Dmitri’s eyes are set on them. I wonder but I didn’t ask why.

To break off the tension between them, I cling my arms to Dmitri, “Ahm, Nikolai, this is Dmitri, my, uh, yeah, Dmitri Sullivan.” I still couldn’t find the right word to introduce him, since we don’t have any label at all. He calls me his woman but never a girlfriend.

Then he suddenly takes the initiative to a conversation, “So, Mr. Murrow, isn’t it an unusual place to see a man like you here?”

I gather everything, even Nikolai’s smirk, “Well, I am even more surprised to see you here, Mr. Sullivan. I thought you are not interested in places like this.”

“It depends on who I am meeting. Apparently, somebody tells me that my woman is here in this bar, since I am just a mile away, I decided to pay her a visit. And you, is that YOUR WOMAN?” with a strong emphasis on the word woman.

Nikolai clears his throat. Even a guy like him gets nervous in front of Dmitri, just what kind of guy is this I am dating, err, no, fantasizing about? Since none of them talk for a few minutes and instead only have a staring contest, I break the ice and announces,

“So Dmitri, would you and your men care to join us in our room?”

“I don’t know, would that be okay Nikolai?” he uses the first name basis without blinking.

Nikolai shrugs his shoulders, “Suit yourself, let me lead the way, Dmitri,” and he counters back.

It feels like my heart is about to explode while K is just resting on her knight’s arms. I take a deep sigh as Nikolai leads the way. I hesitantly ask Dmitri, “Uhm, do you, uh, have a bad history?”

He chuckles, and smiles with his eyes, “A bad one? Yeah. Not a history, though. No need to worry, I just scared him off a little.”

While we are walking to the VVIP room, he wraps his arms around my shoulder, and pulls me beside him, “Do you like going to bars?”

“Used to, but we became busier, so, this would be our first in a long time,” I answer.

“I see. Don’t wear any revealing clothes without me, I might kill those who would dare to look at you,” he advises me and then squeezes my shoulder a bit.

***

When we get to the VVIP room, K is sitting beside Nikolai, now, a little sober.

VVIP room has a red circular table partnered with 2 semi-arch couches on two sides. They took the other one, and we sit down across from them. I press the button on the table to call on the waiter and order additional drinks.

“Hey, Dmitri, sorry earlier, by the way, I’m Kendra, A’s best friend,” she apologizes.

“A? Short for Avery?” Dmitri’s interest is piqued.

“Yeah, do you call her Avery? She hates it, though,” she wonders.

“Hmm, it seems she likes it more now, right, Avery?” Dmitri answers and teases me.

My cheeks flustered, “Stop it, you two.”

Kendra and Dmitri started talking about other things while Nikolai remains silent, but his face is much calmer now. I continue to observe them since I feel a little bit tipsy. While they are engaged in the conversation, the waiter comes back with our order. Nikolai distributes the drink.

We spend the night with lots of drinking, dancing in the VVIP room, and talking until our feet and lips are tired.

Kendra and I are left in the VVIP room, while Nikolai goes off to the bathroom, and Dmitri takes an urgent call.

Kendra’s face turns serious out of the blue, “Hey, Avery,” she says in a serious tone, “Did you notice?”

I try to answer in pretense, “Uh, notice what?”, and look away.

But she easily caught me, “You know what I mean, A, Nikolai isn’t like that, but when Dmitri shows up his mood changes. Though he tried so hard to hide it, he couldn’t lie in front of me, not his body language,” she worriedly exclaims.

I sigh back, “I know, do you want me to ask him?” She just shakes her head and lies down on the couch for a moment. I go out to check on Dmitri, but I didn’t expect what I’m about to witness.

Two men standing tall are measuring their manness.

“Did you approach Ava on purpose?” Nikolai confronts Dmitri.

He scoffs and responds, “Avery happens to be your mistress’s best friend. And I happen to like her a lot.”

“Don’t call Kendra a mistress,” Nikolai erupts and is ready to punch Dmitri. But he stops in the air.

“Good call Nik, and if that girl upstairs isn’t a mistress, what is she?”, Dmitri sarcastically pronounces.

But with a soft voice, Nikolai smiles and confidently throws him an answer, “The love of my life, something you haven’t figured out yet, for sure, since you’ve never called Ava your girlfriend yet.”

Dmitri’s face flustered in anger, and he crosses his arms in front of his chest with his fists clenching.

“And my sister and your kids? Just collateral for your success?” Dmitri drops a bomb I wish I didn’t get to hear.

I almost lose my balance knowing that my best friend’s married boyfriend, is his brother-in-law.